


Levi & Eren - Beginnings

by Nirgal Universe (sibilantjouissance)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: But not too slow don't worry, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:49:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sibilantjouissance/pseuds/Nirgal%20Universe
Summary: Levi Ackerman had seen a great many strange and wonderful and horrifying things in his life. But this one? This one might take the cake.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	1. Primal Desire (Episode 13)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! First time posting, so feedback is much appreciated. This is a short piece introducing an Ereri dynamic into the canon anime episodes. It might develop into a longer series. My goal was to stick to the original as close as possible while squeezing in all the homo-eroticism I could, expanding on gaps in the story, and changing things I thought were ridiculous. 
> 
> If it feels slow-moving, don't worry! It'll pick up with all the lemony goodness you could want!

Levi Ackerman had seen a great many strange and wonderful and horrifying things in his life. But this one? This one might take the cake. He had just cut down two fifteen-meter Titans that were about to pounce on another Titan—no, a human, a young man who had just singlehandedly sealed the breach in Trost’s outer wall. There lay the huge boulder, monstrous, reverberating. And there lay the body of the Titan that had carried it here. And in that giant steaming flesh was a boy. Eren Yeager, if Levi’s memory of the newest cadets served him correctly. How old could he be? Nineteen? Seventeen? And already in possession of such power. Matched with such high stakes.

Levi paused on the beast he had just killed, cape billowing. This could change everything. A human-powered Titan? No, humans turning into Titans? What exactly was this—how were the two connected? It was hard to grasp, too much to comprehend all at once.

He turned back to the small group gathered there. “Pay attention kiddos. Here’s the part where you tell me exactly what it is I’m looking at.”

Strange indeed. Horrifying to be sure. And, Levi thought, looking at the boy emerging from the nape of the neck, hair softly stirring, skin remarkably pure, almost newborn, eyes closed and at peace, _wonderful_. Levi breathed in deep as a fresh breeze struck through the area, carrying the heat of the decomposing Titans away. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time.

~ ~ ~

Eren showed the same expression of absolute repose as he lay on his bed in the dungeon. _Ha!_ Levi scoffed to himself. The military police and their paranoia. How ridiculous to slam the person immediately responsible for their victory in prison. But Levi knew that not everyone shared his capacity for handling uncertainty. His was a uniquely storied past with a host of grotesqueries along its dismal hallways. He rarely felt genuinely threatened. As he leaned on the wall with his arms folded, he thought about why Erwin brought him down here. Would this kid really be worth the investment they had in mind?

When Eren woke, Levi was instantly struck by his eyes. They were large, gray-blue, and intense. Very beautiful. He was startled to wake up in chains, but he seemed to recognize the two men observing him (not many didn’t). Erwin explained he was in the custody of the military police, and that they had been granted permission to visit with him. As Erwin asked him questions, Eren spoke with a deep, measured voice that carried layers of emotion. Earnest. Endearing. Levi had heard earlier that the boy was only fifteen. Well-built for a mid-adolescent. That meant he was just ten years old when his hometown was destroyed in 845… his father, who had gone missing, was a person of interest, a doctor who hid many secrets. It was said his mother had been eaten alive during the Titan onslaught when the Colossal and Armored first appeared.

“Let’s talk home,” Erwin was saying. “Specifically the good doctor’s cellar back in Shiganshina. Pretty big secret in there, right? About the Titans?”

“Yeah. I think so. That’s what dad said anyway.”

Levi could tell immediately that the boy would be a terrible liar. But his reticence wouldn’t help his case with the interior. He had to be assertive if he was going to make it out of this alive. “Must suck having your dad and your memory MIA at the same time,” Levi taunted. "Unless of course that’s just a cover story.”

“Enough,” Erwin growled, shooting Levi a glare. “We’ve been over this already, we know he has no reason to lie.”

Good, their act was going well so far, and the boy was cooperating marvelously. He looked shocked at the suggestion—the two officers of the interior who stood watch on the sidelines were impassive. Levi wished he could simply whisk the boy away and be done with it, but then he’d be jeopardizing the Scout’s reputation with the bigwigs in Wall Sina, and that wasn’t his gamble to make.

Erwin carefully laid out the situation, hinting at their plans beyond the wall and making it plain that Eren was absolutely critical without seeming to take his side. They couldn’t be overeager to remove a power like this from the interior right as it appeared.

“Any way you slice it,” Erwin said, “a Titan’s deciding our fate. It’s been conjectured that the Colossal and the Armored Titan are more or less the same as you. It’s why I ask your intentions. They could be the key to turning the tide forever. You could save us.”

At this point Levi could tell Eren’s head was spinning. His gaze dropped, face pinched in distress. “I don’t know what I am…”

Levi’s frown deepened. _What are we doing?_ he thought. _This boy just saved the city of Trost and we have to grill him about his dead parents and imply he could be conspiring with the enemy? He probably still thinks he’s a monster. Goddamn it, he deserves better than this._

Levi took that moment to interject: “Come on, it’s an easy question, so answer it. What the hell is it you wanna do?”

Silence for a few moments. Then Eren started shaking. He raised his eyes a final time, and said with trembling voice and face transfigured:

“I wanna become a member of the Scouts, and slaughter every Titan that crosses my path!!”

That was it for Levi. He was sold. He recognized that gleam: it was the same verve and will for life that he had had to muster as a young person, for much the same reasons.

“Alright then,” he said, unfolding his arms and stepping off the wall. “I’ll take responsibility for him.” Levi grabbed the bars of the cell. He’d make a show for their audience, and hoped Eren would see through it. “Let the higher-ups know what’s going on. Not that I implicitly trust him, of course. It’s more a matter of me trusting myself to deal with him. Kill him if I have to. The bigwigs aren’t likely to raise a stink. My record more than speaks for itself.”

Levi locked eyes with Eren, who was well and truly shell-shocked. “Good news, Yeager. You’re now officially a member of the Scouts.”

When he and Erwin departed, Levi realized his heart was thumping much quicker than called for after standing on a wall for a few minutes. He suppressed a grin; he was definitely looking forward to getting to know Eren better. He wanted a chance to taste that intensity, that energy and drive and passion. What a beautiful face. He wondered what kind of body hid beneath. The boy would certainly be an interesting one to try and tame. Erwin was quiet on the way back to their quarters, no doubt guessing precisely what was going on in Levi’s mind. No matter—the two men kept nothing from each other; there was no part of themselves they were unwilling to expose and explore. It was Erwin who encouraged Levi to come in the first place and to consider taking Eren under his wing. Perhaps, as often happened, the Commander intuited things that Levi had not yet fully seen. If so, all the better. They had quite the adventure ahead of them in the quest to retake Wall Maria. No telling how they were going to ride this one out.


	2. Can't Look Into His Eyes Yet (Episode 14)

Things were heating up in the courtroom. Eren was on trial, his fate to be decided by Premier Zachary over whether he would be entrusted to the Scout Regiment, which meant Erwin and Levi who would let him live, or to the Military Police, who wanted him summarily executed. At this point a wall cultist was lambasting a merchant who had criticized both the Scouts and MP’s plans. Levi glowered in stony silence. This was exactly the kind of bureaucratic nonsense that drove him up the wall. But the frustrating fact was that the fears and distrusts and conflicts of interests that were coming up in this farce of a conversation were all too real. Like it or not, this was the situation they were in—the situation humanity was in. Ravaged by an enemy they hardly understood, wracked by fear and insecurity they couldn’t overcome.

Eren must have been losing it too, because suddenly he cried out, interrupting the speakers.

“Stop it!! You’re wrong… about it all… but you’re so intent on pushing selfish agendas, you’re blind to what’s in front of you!”

His voice rose in frustration, and Levi was impressed. The boy understood his case, and was marvelously brave.

“What does it even matter? None of you have even seen a Titan! So why are you so afraid, huh?? There’s no sense in having power if you’re not going to use it to fight! If you’re too scared to fight for your lives, fine! Let me do it!!”

He had the room spellbound, but Levi could feel the tension tight as wire.

“You—you’re all cowards!!” Eren finally screamed. “Just shut up, and put all your faith in ME!!”

A beat. Then, “Take aim, dammit!”

“Right, yessir!”

Levi felt ice flood his stomach as he saw one of the MPs raise his rifle. _Oh hell,_ he thought to himself. _This might take a while to get over._

A blur of motion, then—SLAM!

Levi’s boot collided with Eren’s face, then WHAM! he brought it down over his back.

Eren choked and gasped for breath, nose bleeding, words caught in his throat. Levi could feel every shock he was inflicting on Eren through his boots and shins.

“You don’t need a good talking-to—”

SLAM! WHAM!

“What you’re in need of, boy, is to be taught a lesson.”

CRACK! One of Eren’s teeth scattered to the floor. Shit, did I go too far? But he had to keep going until the message went all the way home. Levi was in charge, Levi was capable of handling Eren’s supposed “threat.” The faces around the room began to shift, and a few people made noises or gestures of protest. Even those who had just been the most bellicose about taking Eren’s life were squirming.

 _I promise, Eren,_ Levi thought, grimacing with the pain he caused this beautiful boy. _This isn’t how I want you to see me, this isn’t how I see you! Give me a chance and I’ll show you the kind of lesson I really mean._

~ ~ ~

“Well that went better than expected. Does it hurt?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah? Describe it for me!”

The trial was over. The Scouts had custody of Eren, and they were decompressing in an adjacent room, Eren and Erwin and Levi and Hange.

Section Commander Zoe Hange was in charge of research and development in the Scouts. Curiosity about the Titans and their bodily processes was her job description. Levi had never once thought he would be jealous of her work, but there was a first time for everything, and this time it sat across the room on a couch, a glowing adolescent body on the cusp of manhood, brimming with energy, and, right now, wracked with pain and nerves.

“Sorry for all that,” Commander Erwin said. “But the theatrics did get you placed in our custody.”

“No, I understand.”

Levi leaned on the further wall, arms folded. He begrudged Erwin’s easiness with the boy, but after nearly kicking his guts out and reiterating that he was willing to kill him if necessary, Levi could understand why Eren might be afraid of him. It still hurt though.

“I can assure you the pain was worth it,” Erwin continued. “We played our trump card at the perfect time. You have my utmost respect.” He squatted down so he was level with the boy and extended his hand. “Eren, I’m glad you’re on our team.”

Eren’s eyes widened and he gratefully clasped Erwin’s hand. “Ah! Me too! Glad to be here, sir!”

Deciding this was too much to be left out of, Levi walked up and collapsed into the couch next to Eren, slinging his right arm over the back. Eren flinched at his proximity, didn’t look him in the eye.

“So Eren…”

“Sir?”

“You don’t resent me now, do you?”

“N-No, I can see that what you did was necessary, sir.”

Levi ached with Eren’s discomfort, but he realized the boy was brooding over more than him. He took things so seriously, this one. He was stirring everything that happened in the trial; not just getting trashed, but the words themselves, the way he was looked at like an alien, like a monster. The way the moneyed interests and the religious interests and the political interests collided like snow in a storm.

“Good, then you understand,” he offered quietly. There was no way to be quick about these things. There was no fast track or short-cut or easy answers. And what’s more, Levi knew there would be no quick way into the heart of a boy like Eren. Who knew what kind of history he had in Shiganshina? How free had he been to explore himself and his friends and the small world around him? What comforts and pleasures were his to enjoy on that precious precipice of humankind? Levi didn’t begrudge him his childhood; his own murky past in the Underground had provided him many things that those raised on the surface simply couldn’t accept or understand, skills one couldn’t develop without years, sometimes decades of life learned the hard way. And it wasn’t like Levi was a stranger to the pleasures of the body. There was plenty to go around in the Underground, plenty of anything you could want, except sunshine or forest or a serious future. Despite the poverty, the hunger, and the anger—so much anger—Levi had several tender memories he treasured that stood out like crystal from a rock. Intimate moments with his friends, with lovers, sometimes even with enemies. Plus… he had had a great teacher.

He tuned back in when Hange started berating him. “Still! Don’t you think you went too far? I mean you knocked his tooth out!” She held up a folded cloth. “Neat huh?”

“You picked it up? How disgusting.”

“This is a precious sample, I’ll have you know.”

Levi turned to Eren. “Hey, just be glad people like that aren’t dissecting you,” he said dryly.

“Don’t you dare compare me with them!” Hange retorted. “I would never even dream of killing him. Hey! Eren! Let me take a look inside that mouth of yours.”

As Eren opened his mouth (oof, those lips), Hange gasped, and the others turned to look. She was holding Eren’s mouth open, and as they peered inside, Levi leaning close over Eren’s left shoulder (the boy’s scent was lovely), they could all see two perfect rows of teeth.

“Your tooth,” Hange breathed. “It… grew back.”

Levi leaned on the couch again and felt a flood of relief. He could breathe easy about hurting Eren in the courtroom. And, he thought, this might allay concerns of hurting him in the future. Truth is, Levi really didn’t want to hurt the kid. He really didn’t want to hurt anyone, in fact. But he’d had to kill and maim and injure for so long that it just came easy to him now. However, he didn’t become a Captain for nothing. He’d had just as many years to perfect the art of protecting the people in his care. And Eren Yeager? Here was a boy most definitely in need of special protection.


	3. Special Operations Squad (Episode 15)

“An architectural marvel, don’t you agree? A proper royal residence once upon a time. And more recently our former headquarters.”

Eren looked around at the towering green, and the white-walled castle just ahead of them in a clearing. It was frankly overwhelming, the unfamiliar terrain and flora. Oluo Bozado rode beside him, pontificating about the Scouts’ past.

“Fancy, yes, but absurdly impractical once the Scouts got down to business. Much much too far removed from either river or wall.”

He had those upturned eyebrows that made his resting face look posh and aloof. His voice was animated though, and Eren wondered if he was sometimes an earful for his comrades. “This was the early days for us, you understand. Hopes soared high. Now this opulent bauble is little more than a holding cell. The place where we store our newest toy!”

Only half-listening, Eren turned to look at the other Scouts riding behind him. He caught Levi’s steady gaze at that last remark, and quickly turned to face front, blushing.

Oluo noticed and lurched over to hiss at him, “Do not be deceived, greenhorn!”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t be expecting the royal treatment! Whether you’re Titan or human, don’t imagine for a second we all share the good Captain’s enthus—“ Just then Oluo’s horse stumbled on a rock and Oluo bit his tongue before he could finish his sentence.

The others laughed and the tension was broken. _Newest toy? The Captain’s enthusiasm?_ Eren thought. _And why was Captain Levi staring at me like that?_ He felt faintly put off. He had been elated to learn he would immediately join the Scouts, and even more in disbelief when Levi himself said he would take Eren under his wing. Levi was a legend, his reputation only overshadowed by Commander Erwin. Then the trial happened, and Eren realized there were layers to this. Seemed like Levi had political reasons to treat him like he did, and it might even be just a political move to keep him in the Scouts at all. His heart sank. Was that all he was to these people then? A tool to use? A toy to play with?

~ ~ ~

“That’s what you get for flapping your jowls!”

“The rookie needed to know his place. First impressions are important.”

They were at the castle, putting their horses away and gathering equipment to set up for food prep and sleep. Petra was berating Oluo for scaring Eren on the road. As they bantered back and forth, Eren took stock of the other Scouts as they passed by.

“So here they are, the Scouts’ Special Operations Squad, the Levi Squad! Every one of these Scouts was handpicked by Captain Levi for their accomplishments in the field. That and… they’re my executioners, the ones who will end me if I lose it.”

He shivered; he knew without a doubt that they were dead serious about killing him if they thought it necessary. He was determined to do everything he could to prove his worth to the cause, to prove they could trust him, to prove he was human.

Some time later Levi corralled the Scouts to start all the cleaning they would have to do to make the place livable.

“Best grab a broom and get to work.”

After what felt like hours, Eren trooped down to a wide stony room with big windows open to the air and sun from the South. Levi stood at the window, looking out.

“I’m done with the upstairs, sir. If uh, if I may ask, Captain, where will I be expected to sleep?”

Levi turned and regarded Eren with that flat stare of his. “Your sleeping quarters are in the cellar.”

Eren’s face fell. “The cellar? But, sir, again?”

“Our safest option. Your abilities are far from being under control. You might go Titan in your sleep.”

Eren stared at him. Levi stared back. He wanted to laugh at how absurd this was— _going Titan in my sleep? how do they think this works? and we have an entire castle!_ —but he couldn’t tell if the Captain was being serious or not.

“One of the conditions of my having you in custody at all,” Levi continued, sounding vaguely annoyed, “is that I keep you under strict security, morning noon and night. While we’re in dreamland, you’re deep underground. That’s the rule.” He paused again, still looking him right in the eye, and Eren started to wonder if he was missing something.

Then Levi sighed, a little decompression in his chest. “I’ll check your work,” he said, breaking eye contact and moving past Eren. “Take over here, I want it spotless.”

“Yes sir.”

Levi’s boots tapped on the old stone as he ascended. It was Eren’s turn to look out the window, leaning his elbows on patchwork lines of moss. Once again he felt vaguely ruffled, like he had failed a test of some kind. _Did the Captain want me to pick up on more than he was saying? If that were the case, why not just tell me directly?_ Eren struggled to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the Captain was just going through the motions because it was expected of him. But Eren couldn’t help but wonder if Levi just really didn’t trust him. That he saw him as less than human. Eren couldn’t blame him; both of them had committed their lives to ending the Titan threat, killing every last one of the monsters. And now Eren had somehow someway become one of them.

“Oh Eren, try not to look so discouraged!”

Eren whipped around. It was Petra, the red-headed Scout with a friendly smile and a deceivingly slight frame.

“Sorry, I hope you don’t me calling you Eren. I noticed the Captain does and, well, he pretty much sets the tone for the rest of us.”

“Whatever.” _The Captain_ has _only called me by my name, hasn’t he?_ “It’s just that I uh, well… did I really look discouraged or were you just saying that?”

“Everyone reacts that way. Up close and personal, Captain Levi doesn’t seem much like the hero he’s cracked up to be.” She glanced back to the stairs. “For one thing, he’s a lot shorter! Bit on the temperamental side, too. Not exactly imbued with what you’d call the social graces.” She tilted her head, a picture of concern. At least someone seemed to care about how he felt.

“It’s not that,” Eren said. “I’m more put off by the seriousness. He’s so dead earnest about following the higher ups’ rules.”

Petra smirked. “Lemme guess. You think strength means living by your own rules, flouting everyone else’s.”

Eren blushed. “Well…” _was Petra testing him too? What did they want from him!_ “he didn’t strike me as the type to take orders.”

“Time was he would’ve lived up to your expectations! That’s what I understand anyway, I don’t have the details.” She leaned in, conspiratorial. “Story goes, he was quite the rogue before joining the Scouts; a high roller in the capitol’s black market.”

This took Eren completely by surprise. Sure, he had pegged Levi as having a more independent streak, and it was frustrating how he seemed to enforce policy even when it was ridiculous, but to be a big name in the black market? And not just any seedy alleyway either; the “black market” of the capitol meant underneath the complex inside Wall Sina. That was the Underground!

“How the hell did he… I mean—”

“No clue! Folks talk, but who knows what really brought him here, right? The most popular version involves Erwin. They say he dragged him to the Scouts kicking and screaming!”

“The Commander?” This was another shock. Eren knew the two worked together, since Levi as a Captain reported directly to Erwin, and he had seen them together when they first recruited him in the dungeon. But he hadn’t noticed any particular fondness between the two. Maybe he would have to look closer. But what would Erwin, possibly the government’s most polished and popular leader alongside Pixus, have to do with anyone in the Underground? Even if he did turn out to be Captain Levi… there were so many questions.

Just then Levi appeared in the doorframe. “What’s going on!” Petra quickly resumed sweeping. “Your cleaning is lamentable,” he told Eren. “Back upstairs, now!”

~ ~ ~

That evening Eren sat with the squad leaders around a candlelit table on the castle main floor after a simple meal. They were discussing the upcoming mission beyond the wall, and the capitol’s recent decision that new recruits from this year’s cadet corps would be manning their formation along with the veteran Scouts. Several of those around the table thought that was an especially unwise move, but Eren realized it could mean seeing Mikasa and Armin and the rest much sooner than he thought he would.

“Mission planning isn’t my responsibility,” Levi offered, “but it is Erwin’s. And you can bet the man’s obsessed over every angle.”

“That’s a truth,” said Eld Jinn, fingers interlaced, short blond ponytail pulled back. “Especially given how unique the situation is. Consider how many people died on the path to taking back Wall Maria—then hope comes in a form no one expected,” he looked over at Eren, “one that we’re not entirely sure… how to deal with.”

Now all eyes were on him. He felt his heart race as it was confirmed yet again that despite their various welcomes none of these people trusted him—the warm friendly gestures were just perfunctory. _Was that true about Levi too?_ He sat directly across from the Captain at the other end of the table, but Eren couldn’t read the man’s face. It was impassive as ever.

“Most of us still find it hard to believe,” Eld Jinn continued. “So how does it work? This whole turning into a Titan trick, really?”

Eren tried to explain but got caught up in his own ignorance in the matter.

“You’re not going to get anything out of him,” said Levi, “besides what the scribblers wrote out in the reports. Not that you-know-who won’t have a go at it.” His gaze flicked up to Eren’s over his mug of tea. “You’d be lucky to come out of it alive if that one lays into you. ‘Course it’s only a matter of time—“

“Who are you talking about?” said Eren, half-rising out of his seat.

But of course it was only Zoe Hange, leader of the Scout’s scientific research, in charge of examining any captured Titan specimens. They’d met after the trial, she’d been the one to point out his tooth had grown back. Her work had greatly informed the training Eren and his cohort had received as cadets. She was extremely interested in Eren and his transformations, and extremely passionate about her test subjects. They spent the next hour or so going over Hange’s most recent experiments.

_Joining the Scouts has been an eye-opener,_ Eren thought to himself. S _hock after shock… and it’s not just Section Commander Hange, everyone here’s a little off. It’s like I’ve wandered into a sanctuary for crackpots. But—they’re striving for change, that’s been the appeal of the Scouts all along, right?_

Before Hange could launch into the part of her experimenting that Eren had already covered in training, Levi appeared in the doorway again.

“Hange, that’s enough. The boy needs his sleep.”

“Oh, but I was _just_ about to tell him the story of our first captures and how it led to the creation of our Omni-Directional Mobility Gear!”

“We need to stick to the schedule. If Eren agreed to help you tomorrow then he needs his energy.”

“Ugh, fine.” Defeated, Hange made her exit. She turned on the last step and said, “But I expect you in the courtyard bright and early, first thing in the morning!” and then she was gone.

A beat, as Levi and Eren looked at each other.

“Well?” Levi said, gesturing with the candle-torch he was carrying. “Bring your things. I’ll show you to the cellar.”

Eren knew where the cellar was, but he was glad for the company. As they descended, Levi asked how his talk with Hange went, and what he thought of the other Squad members. With no one else around, Levi’s manner with him was different. He spoke easier, with more warmth, even seemed to move more sprightly.

As it turned out, the castle’s “cellar” was more of a basement floor. Eren thought he would have to set up camp, but there were several rooms, mostly unused, probably for storage. There were a couple in perfectly good shape, and more than one with a bed. He gratefully laid his stuff out in one of them, then went and sat on the mattress, somewhat awkward and very aware of Levi’s continued presence in the room with him.

“This is why I wanted to keep you separate from the group,” Levi explained, as he made his way over and joined Eren, sitting right next to him.

“Why, so I wouldn’t be up talking to Hange all night?” Eren asked, trying to ease his jittering stomach.

Levi gave him a sharp glance. “Because I wanted you to have your own space.” His gaze softened as he looked at Eren. “And because of how the conversation after dinner went.”

Eren flushed. He remembered all the uneasy eyes on him, and realized the Captain had been subtly trying to get them off his case. He’d even interrupted Hange, which it seemed hardly anyone was able to do.

“It’s why I have to keep up appearances of not trusting you, since the others don’t.” Levi was looking at him intently now, and Eren noticed how sharp the Captain’s features were; his prominent jawline and high cheekbones, a long thin nose, those piercing eyes. The bangs he let fall around his forehead, parted in the middle, close-shave around his ears.

“But I do,” the Captain was saying. “I did the moment I saw your face when Erwin asked what your intentions were. That fire you have, that intensity of purpose. I believe it. I know it when I see it. You’re a human being, Eren, I have no doubt.”

He looked down, where Eren’s hands had unconsciously clutched the edge of the bed. “So…” he continued, drawing his gaze slowly up Eren’s body back to his face, “you don’t have anything to fear from me. In fact—“ he reached out and brushed his fingers over Eren’s cheek and around his ear, sending shivers down the boy’s spine. “I will do everything I can to protect you, even if that means from the other Scouts.”

Eren’s heart was racing, he was breathing heavy and didn’t know what to say.

“Just be patient,” Levi continued, “give them time.” He smiled gently, the first real smile Eren had seen, and it felt like sinking into warm water. “Besides, who wouldn’t grow to love a beautiful boy like you?”

With that the Captain leaned in and planted a quick firm kiss on Eren’s forehead. Then he was up and out of the room, still smiling, resuming his professional pace and posture.

Eren sat there reeling. He was completely floored. He slowly touched his cheek where the Captain had touched it. His forehead burned. _What the hell was that?_ Eren was stunned at how forward the Captain had just been, but then he had also been so methodical, it didn’t just come out of nowhere. His image of the Captain had undergone several revisions in the last few days, but now everything was inside out. He’s sharp and poised and unbothered, but secretly full of feeling. He’s terrifying and powerful, but enchanting and tender all at once.

It was a little too much for a fifteen-year-old in the throes of puberty. He was exhausted after the day’s work and the week’s revelations, but he was also at this point very aroused. He got up slowly, moving as if in a dream. Peeling off his clothes, he laid them at the foot of the bed and got under the covers naked. Staring up at the ceiling, he started to stroke himself slowly. He needed to relieve the tension, numb the pain, still the thoughts, and distract from the questions.

He pictured the Captain next to him, leaning into him, this time meeting his lips in a full-on kiss. How would it feel to hold that sturdy head and slender neck, to brush his face as Levi had his? Then he imagined the Captain naked and on top of him as he lay in bed, hands roaming freely over his chest and stomach. Those firm lips gracing his face, his neck, his nipples. Eren moaned softly and closed his eyes. What the man could do with those spry legs, battle-hardened and trained to perfection! Eren saw them wrap around his torso from the front, or holding Levi steady as he ground against Eren from above. What an ass he must have, from years of propelling that small body through the air. He was getting close, rubbing himself frantically and squirming with pleasure. The thought of smoothing his hands over those globes, sneaking his fingers down into Levi’s crack to press at his hole is what did it. The utter taboo, that Levi the living legend would let Eren touch him in his most intimate place was overwhelming. Eren let out a strained groan, and bucked his hips as he unloaded onto his chest and stomach. His whole buddy shuddered and he gasped out as the orgasm ran him through. A few spurts later, his dick stopped spasming and drooped down to lay on his belly. Eren lay there panting. Almost unconsciously, he wiped up the mess he’d made with his fingers and licked himself clean. He always finished that way, ever since he started to shoot. Just seemed like the most natural thing.

_That fire you have,_ Levi had said, _that intensity of purpose._ And he had called him beautiful. How it could be that Captain Levi himself had those feelings for Eren? What did it mean for his future in the Scouts? The brush of Levi’s fingers on his cheek, his quick firm kiss on his forehead, lingered. Eren held the glow in his body, determined to bask in this thrill even if it was just a fantasy. He felt he deserved that at least, after everything he’d been through.

As he began to drift off, his mind took him back to when he and Armin were kids in Shiganshina. Carefree and playful in the slanted summer sun. He loved everything about his home, and his best friend: all their little hiding places, in the river reeds, in makeshift treehouses, that one time they visited a lake. Armin’s comforting smile and gentle laugh. When they slept over with each other, they got into all kinds of mischief, curious boys vigorous under the sheets. They would stay up talking about the sea and how they were going to see it someday.

That night Eren dreamed of a sloshy bathtub that just kept growing and growing until it was as big as a city. Hange splashed in it and laughed, her voice ricocheting as if from a distance. Levi’s naked form loomed over the wall, as big as the Colossal Titan, and shushed her with a finger over his mouth.

~ ~ ~

The morning brought new mysteries. Someone had dispatched with the newest Titan specimens, Sauni and Bean, during the night, sliced right through their weak points at the nape of the neck. They were skeletons by the time the sun broke over the battlements. Hange screamed in dismay and fell to her knees as a crowd began to gather at the gruesome scene.

“Is this a soldier’s work?”

“Yeah, but they haven’t pegged the one responsible yet. They were killed just before dawn, apparently. By the time the guards got here, the bastard cleared out on ODM gear.”

Eren joined the throng in his green cape, hood up. He saw the Captain walk towards him and give him a down-up glance.

“Did you get enough sleep?” His voice was an even keel; could be considerate, could be pragmatic. Flash of what he did last night made Eren blush.

“Uh, y-yes sir. How did this… how’d it happen?”

“Let it go. This is a matter for the military police.” Levi turned without waiting for a response, and walked several paces towards the courtyard doors. Eren felt a pang of frustration. Why the brusqueness? Couldn’t he tell Eren something? Or did he really not know any more than the rest of them?

Eren looked back at the rapidly deteriorating mass of bone and charcoal. There were so many terrifying implications: whoever had done this had to have known exactly when and where to get at the creatures without being noticed or eaten, and they also had to have access to Scout equipment to do it. So then… was it one of them? But why would anyone in the regiment want to destroy our chances at learning more about the Titans? It just didn’t make sense.

Suddenly Commander Erwin was at his side, cupping his shoulders in his hands. “What is it you think you see?” he asked Eren in a low voice. “Who do you think the real enemy is here?” Eren’s mind raced and his heart leaped into his throat but he didn’t know how to respond. Did people suspect he had done it? But Levi knew better, surely—

“Ignore me,” Erwin said after a beat, the same small decompression of his chest. “Loaded question.” He let go and turned away.

Eren looked after him and saw Levi waiting for the Commander at the doorway. Levi held out his hand as Erwin joined him, and he took it, and the two continued with fingers interlaced.

What in the confounding mixed-messages was this! Eren felt his face heat up as he watched the two exit together. Of course, that’s what Petra meant by saying Levi joining the Scouts “involved” Erwin. If it wasn’t obvious before, it clearly was now.

Well then what was last night, and why call him beautiful? Did that mean anything? What the hell was going on! Meanwhile Hange was still inconsolable, and people were muttering about having to check everyone’s gear when the cadets arrived the next day. Eren pulled his hood tighter and glowered at the pile of blasted Titan remains.


End file.
